Image taken from an AFPTV video, May 1, 2024, of Raphael Glucksmann prevented from joining the procession in Saint-Etienne after paint was thrown (AFP / Marine LESPRIT)
“Get out of it”, “Palestine will live”: violently attacked and sprayed with paint, Raphaël Glucksmann, head of the PS-Place publique list, was ousted from the May 1 procession in Saint-Etienne, but assures that no one will not make him “lower his head”, pointing the finger at La France insoumise, which Jean-Luc Mélenchon rejects.
Mr. Glucksmann and his entourage suffered insults as soon as they arrived, with paint and cans being thrown, as well as cries like “Glucksmann get out of there” or “Palestine will live”. The head of the list, accusing “around fifty cranks”, some of whom belong to LFI according to him, has given up demonstrating.
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal condemned this violence. “Politics can sometimes be a fight in the noble sense of the term, but it must always be done with respect for the integrity of people,” he declared on the sidelines of a trip to Beaugency (Loiret) .
The leader of La France insoumise Jean-Luc Mélenchon, with whom Raphaël Glucksmann has numerous disagreements, on Ukraine, defense Europe or China, also “totally disapproved”.
“All those who want to show allegiance to the workers’ struggle for their rights have their place on May 1. You just have to move away from them if they displease us,” he argued on X, deploring that this action provides “a media diversion against May 1 and a victim role for Glucksmann who takes the opportunity to accuse us”.
In another message in the afternoon, Mr. Mélenchon asked the leader of Place publique to apologize for having wrongly accused his movement, according to him, stressing that “the Young Communists of 42 claimed responsibility for this action”.
“What is certain is that there were flags of political parties,” said the 44-year-old essayist shortly after the incident, referring to those of Permanent Revolution (a Trotskyist movement, Editor’s note), La France Insoumise and Communist Youth.
The LFI federation of the Loire denounced “the falsehoods” against their movement, but TF1 and LCI collected the testimony of an LFI activist, former deputy of an LFI candidate (unelected) in the 2022 legislative elections, who claims, flags Rebel on the shoulder, “having been part of those who expelled him”.
The Young Communists of the Loire also acknowledged to the AFP that they had “contributed to this action, like other organizations”, judging it “incompatible” to march in the presence of Raphaël Glucksmann, “a representative of the right wing of the Party socialist”.
Image taken from an AFPTV video, May 1, 2024, of Raphael Glucksmann (c) prevented from joining the procession in Saint-Etienne after paint was thrown (AFP / Marine LESPRIT)
The head of the PCF list Léon Deffontaines, who “strongly” condemned these actions, assured Wednesday that they were “not members of the PCF”, nor “of the movement of young French communists”, and that he had not therefore not “to answer for these acts”.
– “Frustration” –
“No one will make us lower our heads,” insisted Raphaël Glucksmann later during a press briefing in Villeurbanne, just before a meeting.
This violence is according to him “the result of a campaign of slander orchestrated on social networks by certain political parties and certain political leaders”, he judged, regretting that some on the left “have decided to target not the far right, but our campaign”, without naming anyone.
But in a series of messages on X, he asked Jean-Luc Mélenchon to stop “playing with fire”.
Mr. Glucksmann has been the subject of attacks on social networks for several months, notably from activists close to LFI, but he was also targeted by young communists in the North, on a poster where he was called a “bastard” .
Several European candidates have denounced these incidents, such as LFI Manon Aubry and LR François-Xavier Bellamy.
In an interview with AFP, Mr. Glucksmann attributed these angry movements to “a reaction of frustration because the dynamic is with us”, in reference to the polls for the European elections of June 9, giving him at 14% according to a study Ipsos on Monday, in ambush behind the presidential majority candidate Valérie Hayer (17%).
“To those who are brutalizing the public debate, I will meet on June 9. I think they will have a huge disappointment,” he added to AFP.
Referring to the slogans about the conflict in Gaza, he assured that he “did not stutter to condemn Hamas” while “fighting for the carnage in Gaza to stop.”
